Homeopathy - what is it?

Classical Homeopathy - What is It?

Homeopathy is a method of treatment discovered by a German physician and scientist Samuel Hahnemann (1755 – 1843). Homeopathic medicines are made from highly diluted natural substances: plants, minerals and animal products. The fundamental principle of homeopathy is the Law of Similars: substance that causes particular symptoms can treat a disease with similar symptoms. The main goal of a homeopathy practitioner is to find the remedy that matches the individual pattern of the disease and awaken vital force to overcome the disease. Homeopathic medicine by itself does not kill germs, does not accumulate in invaded tissue, and does not decrease gastric acid production. Homeopathic medicine gives an impulse to the body to heal itself. This impulse arouses the natural process of self-healing, and the body by itself copes with germs, regulates the levels of gastric acidity and blood pressure, bringing the patient to good health. Homeopathic treatment is conducted in a natural and gradual way without side effects that can happen when taking conventional drugs.

Homeopathy vs Conventional Medicine

Prescription of homeopathic medicine dramatically differs from prescription of conventional drugs. Homeopathic remedy selections are based on individual patient’s pattern including the physical and psycological qualities of the patient. Prescription not defined by diagnosis although takes it into account. In conventional medicine, patients with the same diagnosis get the same treatment. That’s why people usually assume that homeopathy has remedies “for headache”, “for high blood pressure”, “for cough” etc. But a homeopathy practitioner prescribes different patients with the same diagnosis different remedies corresponding to the individual as a whole and not only his disease. Accordingly in classical homeopathy there are no medicines “for headache”, “for stomach ulcer” etc. Likewise there are no homeopathic eye specialists or OBGYN.

Questions like “Can you treat high blood pressure, or prostate cancer, or bronchial asthma?” make no sense because a homeopathy practitioner treats a PATIENT AS A WHOLE - MIND AND BODY WITH ALL ORGANS AND WITH ALL DISEASES.

However the most significant difference between homeopathy and conventional medicine is the perspective of human health and disease. Homeopaths believe that the cause of the disease is not a germ by itself. The founder of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, wrote that disease has an internal, non-material cause. There is a contradiction with the heavily materialistic approach of conventional medicine. Based on a different understanding of the disease’s cause, the treatment is also different. Conventional medicine fights against the external manifestation of the disease (to kill germs, to reduce high blood pressure etc.) while a homeopath prescribes a remedy for the whole person to stimulate the body to heal itself from within.

Homeopathy can treat chronic diseases where allopathy (conventional medicine) can only offer temporary relief. During the homeopathic treatment step by step will improve not only disease symptoms but also general physical and psychological conditions. Moreover humans that regularly receive natural treatments including homeopathy are able to cope with diseases better there after. The reason is that their own vital force which is suppressed when treated by conventional drugs has become more powerful with homeopathic treatment.

Homeopathic Success Rates Treating Epidemics

For more than two-hundred years homeopathy has experienced different stages of development. Homeopathy has repeatedly demonstrated its effectiveness in treating serious epidemics. For example, during the epidemic of yellow fever in Natchez, Mississippi, mortality in allopathic treatment hospitals was 55% while homeopathic treatment had mortality 6% (555 cases have been treated). In the treatment of diphtheria in 1879-1894 by allopathy, mortality was 32.2%, while the treatment by homeopathy in 1883-1891 was 4%. The Cholera epidemic in Europe in 1830 took the lives of 52% of patients with allopathic treatment and 9% with the treatment of homeopathy. Probably the most striking application of homeopathy was during the great influenza epidemic in 1918. Dr. T. McCann from Dayton, Ohio, said the mortality within 24,000 cases of influenza treated by allopathy was 28.2%, while the mortality of 26,000 patients receiving homeopathic treatment was 1.05%. These latest figures confirmed Dr. Dean V. Pearson from Philadelphia (colleague of S. Hahnemann) who experienced 26,795 cases of influenza; applying homeopathy and the results were the same as described above.

You can read the original report in the book “The Logic of Figures or Comparative results of homoeopathic and other treatment”. The book is available online on books.google.com

Increased Use Of Homeopathy Over Drugs

Conventional medicine (allopathy) keeps restricting the development of homeopathy, partly due to economic reasons. The pharmaceutical industry is closely tied to conventional medicine. It is well known that the quantity, complexity, and cost of allopathic (conventional) drugs are vastly larger to the identical characteristics of homeopathic remedies that are made from natural substances. Nowadays interest in homeopathy has reappeared. This interest comes partly from people’s desire to use more natural products (organic food, personal care, medicines etc.) People choose homeopathy as a more natural way of treatment compared to conventional drugs that have serious side effects and sometimes are not effective. At the same time, there is a greater understanding that human beings are not only a kit of different organs but rather a unity of mind and body. Many people no longer trust the materialistic approach of conventional medicine. The understanding of a spiritual base of human health has given rise to the revival of homeopathy in the 21st century.